Fed up with having to repair this traffic light, Chicago put it on a concrete base, and it might’ve claimed this Tesla as one of its first victims.
Downtown Chicago driver and Redditor /u/shhuss2 shared a case of instant karma to the /r/idiotsincars subreddit from earlier last week (Jan 21, 2026) showing a Tesla driver trying to pull a slick overtake move, only to wreck his electric car, crashing into the concrete median and nearly head-on into a concrete traffic light base.
Check out the hilarious dashcam footage below with the original Reddit thread (now deleted) linked here.
In case the video below is taken down, we’ve got a mirror linked here.
The incident happened near the intersection of Lake Shore Drive and E Chestnut St. (exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As the dashcam shows, OP is headed southbound on Lake Shore Dr in the direction of the aforementioned intersection.
Suddenly, a driver in a white Tesla Model S passes him to his right, and it looks an awful lot like he’s trying to pull a slick overtake move.
The problem is he’s doing it in the right-turn-only lane, which dead ends into a raised median with a traffic light.
The thing is, the Chicago DOT just recently raised the base of the traffic light onto a large, concrete foundation.
The Tesla Model S tries to pass before he gets to the end of the right turn-only lane, but doesn’t make it.
Forced to squeeze between a vehicle and the traffic light with a concrete foundation, he crashes into the median, ripping the front bumper off his Tesla and likely causing so much damage that he’s effectively totaled it.
It’s not clear if he hit the concrete base of the traffic light, but he came awfully close.
Thankfully, it doesn’t look like he hit the vehicle to his left or one in front of that vehicle.
Man, he sure must’ve felt like one massive idiot.
“The far left lane looked like it was open…SOME PEOPLE,” /u/Apprehensive_Try_501 pointed out.
“With a Tesla they are likely looking at $10 to 20K to fix and will be waiting months for replacement parts,” /u/StevenG2757 explained.
“He got 2 car lengths ahead of the next light. Winning!!! Pawning people from one red light to the next. Totally worth it,” /u/PostingToPassTime sarcastically commented.
In Chicago, using a right-turn-only lane to pass traffic is typically charged as improper passing or improper lane usage. The base fine is usually about $80–$130 under the Chicago Municipal Code, and it carries 20 points on your Illinois driving record, which can affect insurance and license status if you rack up more violations. (cms2.revize.com)
